Re: S3 ViRGE VLB project (or " Making a Concurrent for Creative 3D Blaster VLB" )

Posted on 2025-04-02, 07:04

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

LCD display is unfortunately a limitation in such case. I remember one day I set some higher resolution for my S3 805 and it switched to high refresh rate, for which my LCD just displayed "out of range". Only CRT was able to display the screen properly. It looked really nice on CRT, but i prefer LCD …

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Re: S3 ViRGE VLB project (or " Making a Concurrent for Creative 3D Blaster VLB" )

Posted on 2025-04-01, 19:56

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Thanks RayeR for all details. This info is very useful. I have problem that all 1600x1200 modes displays only blank screen so I have to use lower resolution. E.g. 800x600/32bpp ot 1024x768 works fine... Could it be related to some strange refresh rate timings and display not being able to cope with …

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Re: Troubleshooting 486 Motherboard

Posted on 2025-03-22, 16:38

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

byte_76 wrote on 2025-03-22, 15:27: I’m not sure how to determine if my ram is fpm or edo. There are no labels on them which indicate such information. Please post a photo of your memory sticks with some zoom on ICs to see what's the marking on them. Maybe we can find some datasheet of such IC to …

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Re: Troubleshooting 486 Motherboard

Posted on 2025-03-15, 21:52

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's worth to check pins of booth Sis 85C496 and 85C497. Maybe some lost contact with pads due to cracked solder joints. You could try to press both chips with fingers to potentially allow loose pins to get in contact with pads. On the other hand which type of SIMM memory have you used? I suggest to …

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Re: S3 ViRGE VLB project (or " Making a Concurrent for Creative 3D Blaster VLB" )

Posted on 2025-03-11, 20:42

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Madao wrote on 2025-03-11, 20:08: Cleaned gerber file is uploaded. Wow, that was pretty fast, thank you very much 😀 I've double checked it and looks good now.

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Re: S3 ViRGE VLB project (or " Making a Concurrent for Creative 3D Blaster VLB" )

Posted on 2025-03-11, 19:45

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Hi Madao. I just wanted to order the PCB for S3 Trio64V+ VLB. I'm using gerbers, which are on your github. Unfortunately I've found some issue with Silk Screen on Bottom. It seems the text, which suppose to be placed on Top under the Video BIOS chip, is loated on Bottom and is mixed with the other …

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Re: Working ISA diagnostic card

Posted on 2025-03-06, 20:23

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That seems like an odd coincidence. Sorry if this sounds condescending, but I gotta ask: did you orient the cards correctly? Rear towards the rear ? A really valid point. On my card there is even a "REAR" written on Silk Screen. My card must be rotated when moving from PCI to ISA and in the end LED …

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Re: Soyo SY-6BA+ IV - very good condition / normally doesn't boot at all / FRAME led off

Posted on 2025-02-02, 18:42

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Try to put some pressure on chipset with your fingers and try to boot. If it boots properly then balls under chipset lost contact with PCB pads. This would mean that reballing of chipset is the best way to make it work reliably.

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Re: HDD / disk controller? issues with an old 286 - please advise

Posted on 2025-02-02, 15:22

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The configuration is the following: - Unknown baby AT motherboard with 16MHz headland 286 CPU and 4 30pin simm slots. Please share the photo of yours board. Maybe we can identify it and with some luck there is available Mr. BIOS fo it, an alternative version of BIOS. This could help to solve the …

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Re: HDD / disk controller? issues with an old 286 - please advise

Posted on 2025-01-31, 19:01

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Which version of DOS are you using? Please try to switch off all EMM or XMS memory. Try no high memory at all.

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Re: How to properly connect 24pin PSU to 20pin motherboard?

Posted on 2025-01-18, 21:48

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just went to the Seasonic page and the new psus on their site (prime tx series) all list "MB (24/20 pins) 1 connector" and in their manual it says "Connect the mainboard end of the 24/20-Pin convertible connector to the mainboard. Depending on the mainboard, you may need to either attach or …

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Re: How to properly connect 24pin PSU to 20pin motherboard?

Posted on 2025-01-18, 13:50

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

douglar wrote on 2025-01-18, 13:44: Often, 4 of the pins are removable from the power supply connector, and the remaining 20 can only go in 1 way. Unfortunately this is the case for PSU from "transition" period. So these PSU were produced just for a few years and after that all PSU used single 24 …

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Re: How to properly connect 24pin PSU to 20pin motherboard?

Posted on 2025-01-18, 13:48

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I connected many times the PSU with 24pin connector to the mainboard with 20pin ATX connector. The only problem I had is that I needed cut a bit plastic in PSU 24pin connector to allow it to accept plastic end of 20pin connector on mainboard side. Another issue, which you can face, is that many ATX …

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Re: S3 ViRGE VLB project (or " Making a Concurrent for Creative 3D Blaster VLB" )

Posted on 2024-12-10, 20:12

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Another very nice project Madao. Congratulations and as big thanks for sharing the design with community. On one side you enables others to build the card they have been searching/willing to find and could not buy or being able to afford to buy. But I personally thank you for sharing schematics, …

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Re: Modding Athlon XPs to its MP (Multiprocessor) counterparts

Posted on 2024-11-01, 16:32

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wow, excellent analysis. Hats off. Thank you very much for your deep explanation on the benefits of new CPU. I read it with great interest. As you've mentioned the multi CPU is not a big benefit in terms of games. Anyway in your case the Barton CPU is a great step in direction of maxing out this …

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Re: Modding Athlon XPs to its MP (Multiprocessor) counterparts

Posted on 2024-11-01, 11:25

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Could you run some benchmarks to understand what's the gain in performance with new CPUs? i'm curious how bigger cache helps in such case.

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Re: S3 Virge PCI problem

Posted on 2024-10-22, 16:59

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The brightness thing is a known issue with S3 cards from that era. The ones made by reputable manufacturers like Diamond, Hercules, STB, Elsa etc. usually don't have this problem, but many others do. In some cases, this can be fixed through software, or by swapping out the BIOS. See this thread for …

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Re: S3 Virge PCI problem

Posted on 2024-10-22, 09:11

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

At which resolution and refresh rate have you experienced this issue? Does it change with different resolutions?

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Re: Childhood deficiencies

Posted on 2024-10-12, 15:54

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What I think is you should buy something, anything. A working computer to get a sense of what you dont like and want upgraded. And I think this is the best recommendation after all discussion with so many details and suggestion. I don't think OP will find the suitable computer config in one shot. …

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Re: Childhood deficiencies

Posted on 2024-09-27, 05:15

by

by zami555

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I enjoyed reading excellent comments on superiority of 2006 in terms of computer hw evolution. Indeed a great time. However being back in 2005, like in OP case, you had no chance for that, yet I think we must focus on opportunities being available in 2005. Like Op said, closing ones eyes and being …

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